Freelance Rate Calculator

Find the minimum you must charge to break even.

Add up your real expenses, sales fees, and taxes, then get the hourly, daily, and weekly rate you actually need to keep your business alive.

  • Free
  • No sign-up
  • About 10 minutes
“I tried to make my own spreadsheet, but I got overwhelmed by the number of things to account for. I never would have guessed it could be so easy and accessible!”
Megan Lister · Freelance Illustrator
“Charging too little is such a common trap for freelancers. With this calculator, you can protect yourself by finding out what’s sustainable.”
Kai Oelfke · Entrepreneur & iOS dev
“The hardest part of a proposal is determining how much to charge. Let The Freelance Rate Calculator determine your minimum rate and scale up from there.”
Joe Masilotti · Indie Dev
Start
ANNUAL EXPENSES
Group
Category
DAILY
MONTHLY
ANNUAL
← Annual Expenses, by category, will be equal to:( Daily × 365 ) + ( Monthly × 12 ) + ( Annual × 1 )
Rent or Mortgage
DailyMonthlyAnnual How much for the roof over your head?
Utilities
DailyMonthlyAnnual Lights? Electricity? Heating/Air Conditioning? Water?
Phone & Internet
DailyMonthlyAnnual Cell phone bill? Cable? Internet? Landline?
Food & Entertainment
DailyMonthlyAnnual Groceries? Outings? Dinner with friends?
Insurance (health/other)
DailyMonthlyAnnual Health/Dental/Vision/Life insurance? Car insurance?
Transportation
DailyMonthlyAnnual Car payments? Train, bus, or subway fare? Uber or taxi rides?
Travel (Hotel & Tickets)
DailyMonthlyAnnual Airplane tickets? Hotel or AirBnB? Train or bus trips? Event travel?
Office Supplies
DailyMonthlyAnnual Pens, paper, ink? Small office furniture or workstations?
Hardware & Software
DailyMonthlyAnnual New computer? Monitors? One-time software purchases?
Business Assets
DailyMonthlyAnnual Fonts? Icons? Images? Books? Add-ons?
Subscriptions
DailyMonthlyAnnual Figma? Google Workspace? Newsletter software? Professional tools?
Website
DailyMonthlyAnnual Hosting? Servers? Cloud? Domain registrations?
Advertising
DailyMonthlyAnnual Google Ads? Print or online ads? Facebook? Instagram?
Legal & Accounting
DailyMonthlyAnnual Contracts? Taxes? Accounting? Legal advice?
Professional Development
DailyMonthlyAnnual Tuition? Professional classes? Networking events?
Office Space
DailyMonthlyAnnual Co-working space? Office?
Contracts & Help
DailyMonthlyAnnual Need to hire help on projects? Any additional help?
Other
DailyMonthlyAnnual Business insurance? Business entity fees? Other expenses?
DailyMonthlyAnnual
Daily
Monthly
Annual
SUB TOTALRates
$20× 365
$740× 12
$2,250× 1
Amount you spend per day, month, and year. Multiply each by the number of days, months, and years.
ANNUAL TOTAL
$7,300
$8,880
$2,250
Add these amounts to get your total annual expenses
$18,430
in ANNUAL EXPENSES
Your total annual expenses

So, you need to earn $18,430 to cover costs???

No, you need more!

How to Reach Your
Break-Even Point

You need to earn enough to cover all annual expenses AFTER sales fees and taxes are paid.

Expenses  +  Fees  +  Taxes  =  Break-Even Point ↑ Break-Even Point Formula
Continue

Sales Fees and Taxes

You can't escape them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SALES FEES
Credit Card
Service
Others
% of Total Sales
Credit cardServiceOthers 100% What % of your sales come from credit cards / services / commissions / others?
Transaction Fee
Credit cardServiceOthers What is the transaction fee?
TOTAL FEES
$0
$0
$0
$0
in SALES FEES
Your total annual sales fees
TAXES
Sales tax / VATWhat is your sales tax in your country/state?
Income + self-employment tax reserveShare of every dollar you bill that you set aside
Tax reserve amount25% of everything you bill
$7,313.49
Sales Tax / VAT amount12% of everything you bill
$3,510.48
TOTAL TAXES TO SET ASIDE
$10,823.97

Fees and tax reserves are figured on what you actually bill, so your rate includes the money you set aside.

CHOOSE YOUR TAX RESERVE

Your actual tax depends on profit, deductions, other income, and where you live.

last year's freelance taxes last year's freelance revenue = your reserve rate

25% is an example, not a tax estimate. Include income, self-employment, and any state or local income taxes that apply to your freelance work.

Break-Even Point

Expenses
$18,430
+
Fees
$0
+
Taxes
$10,823.97
$29,253.97
in TOTAL ANNUAL SALES

↑ Your total annual sales required to break even

Final Step

Calculate Your Rate

So, how much should you charge per hour?

WORKING DAYS
Vacation
Days How many vacation days do you want per year?
Holidays
Days As a reference, there are 11 public holidays in the US
Sick Days
Days It's standard to have 8 or more sick days in the US
TOTAL DAYS OFF
38
Available Days
Days 327 Days a year minus total days off (from above)
Working Days / per week
Days How many days a week do you work?
TOTAL WORKING DAYS
233
Working Hours / per day
Hours How many hours a day do you expect to be paid for? Looking for work on the internet is not paid work, sorry.

Your Minimum Hourly Rate

$31.39

How much you need to charge to break even

Daily Rate

$125.55

Your minimum daily rate

Weekly Rate

$627.77

Your minimum weekly rate

(Optional Step)

Adjustments for Savings

Ready to go beyond your break-even point?

SAVINGS
Annual Savings
Amount How much do you want to save per year?
Adjusted Annual ExpensesYour expenses plus your savings goal
$23,430
Adjusted Sales Fees
$0
Adjusted Taxes
$13,760.48
ADJUSTED ANNUAL SALES
$37,190.48
Your newly adjusted total annual sales needed to save $5,000 per year...

Your New Hourly Rate

Covering expenses and saving $5,000 per year!

$39.90

Adjusted hourly rate for the desired annual savings

Daily Rate

$159.62

Your new daily rate

Weekly Rate

$798.08

Your new weekly rate

saved